Die-hard UBS investors who have stayed with the bank through thick and thin are hoping new boss Oswald Gruebel (sitting) will return the Swiss icon to its former splendour thanks to a bitter medicine of thousands of new layoffs and heavy cost cuts announced on Wednesday.

But their patience is running out.

"The only reason why we are still with UBS is because hope dies last. But if this carries on, we will not tolerate it anymore," said Blandina Heyne, a UBS investor for seven years, as she and her husband came to attend the bank's annual general meeting in Zurich.

Both clients and shareholders have turned their back to Switzerland's largest bank after the crisis forced UBS to post the biggest loss in Swiss corporate history and shares plummeted to historic lows.

Shareholder anger forced former CEO Marcel Rohner to quit in February and chairman Peter Kurer (standing) was giving his last speech on Wednesday before leaving his job after just one year of what some investors say are empty promises.

"When I was little my mother used to read me one of these bedtime stories from the Grimm's brothers and she said they were the greatest fairytales ever written," shareholder Rudolph Weber says.  "She got it wrong. It was Mr Kurer who wrote the greatest fairytale."

Gruebel, a no-nonsense German who once turned around UBS' rival Credit Suisse, told the shareholder assembly the bank would post yet another loss and announced thousands of job cuts.

"I have been with UBS for almost 20 years and never thought they would disappoint me," said 68-year-old Christina Sutter.  "Despite all this talk of crisis I always had the impression that UBS's "Swissness" gave it a degree of immunity."

 - Josie Cox and Lisa Jucca

(Reuters photo: Arnd Wiegman)

UBS, the biggest banker to the rich, announced a second round of job cuts after posting the biggest annual loss in Swiss history. The cuts to investment banking jobs come on top of 7,500 jobs that the bank has already axed as a result of the economic crisis.

It’s not all bad news, however. UBS hired nearly 400 financial advisers in the United States in the last quarter and sources have told Reuters it is aggressively poaching advisers from rivals including Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and Smith Barney.

If you work at UBS, tell us where the cuts are falling, what the mood is like and what severance you’re getting, if any. And given that the bank is still willing to hire in some sectors, give us some good news about where the opportunities lie.

The following financial services industry appointments were announced on Nov. 25, linked where possible to personal profiles on LinkedIn. To inform us of other job changes, please e-mail moves@thomsonreuters.com.

STANDARD CHARTERED PLC

UK-based lender Standard Chartered Plc appointed Ebenezer Essoka as chief executive officer of its operations in South Africa. Cameroon-born Essoka, currently CEO of Standard Chartered’s west African business, will succeed Chris Low with immediate effect.

NOMURA HOLDINGS INC

Nomura today said it has appointed David Bizer as Head of Global Markets Sales for Europe, Middle East and Africa, effective immediately. Prior to his appointment, Bizer was head of fixed income sales for the same region at Lehman Brothers.

UBS

UBS Global Asset Management (Japan) Ltd appointed Susumu Okamura as president and representative director, effective immediately. Okamura was most recently head of the institutional marketing and products for UBS Global Asset Management (Japan).

PLUS MARKETS GROUP

PLUS Markets Group appointed Rachel Maguire as its new head of strategic development and marketing. Maguire was earlier with RiskMetrics Group, where she was international head of governance account management.

COLLINS STEWART FUND MANAGEMENT

Collins Stewart Fund Management, the unit of Collins Stewart Wealth Management, appointed Collette Wisener-Keating to head product development. Keating will be responsible for fund development, fund registration in new markets and fund operations.

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA

RBC Wealth Management appointed Brenda Vince as head of Wealth Management Strategy, effective February 1, 2009. Vince is currently president of RBC Asset Management and will be replaced by Doug Coulter. Canada’s biggest bank also appointed Damon Williams as president of investment management unit Phillips Hager & North, in addition to an expansion of his current role as head of Institutional Management for PH&N.

LIBERTY MUTUAL

The insurance group said David H. Long, 47, will succeed Thomas C. Ramey, 65, as chairman and president of Liberty International. Long is currently president of the company’s commercial insurance business unit. J. Paul Condrin, 47, currently president for personal lines, will take over as president of commercial lines; and Timothy M. Sweeney, 43, now executive vice president of distribution for personal lines, will become that unit’s president. The changes will become effective January 1, 2009, but Ramey will remain as chairman until mid 2009.

FIDELITY INVESTMENTS

Charles G. Goldman was appointed president of Institutional Platforms for Fidelity Institutional Products Group. Goldman, a former executive vice president and head of Schwab Institutional, will join the firm in early 2009 and report to Michael K. Clark, president of Fidelity Institutional Products Group.

SOLEIL SECURITIES

Soleil Securities Corp, a provider of equity research and brokerage services, added three new analysts to its platform. Harry Fong, most recently a senior analyst at Calyon Securities, will cover the insurance industry. In addition, Kit Konolige, who has covered global electric utilities for First Boston and Morgan Stanley, will follow large-cap utilities. Manoj Garg will be covering healthcare companies within the pharmaceuticals, biotech, and life sciences groups.

The following financial services industry appointments were announced on Nov. 21, linked where possible to personal profiles on LinkedIn. To inform us of other job changes, please e-mail moves@thomsonreuters.com.

UBS AG

Ramesh Singh, the head of UBS AG’s asset-backed securities division has decided to step down, UBS CEO Jerker Johansson said in an internal memo. The asset-backed securities business at the Swiss banking giant will be reduced in scope. Replacing Singh, will be a group co-led by Bill Chandler, Jack McCleary and Jim Reichek.

OPPENHEIMER FUNDS, INC.

William F. Glavin, Jr. has been appointed chief executive officer of Oppenheimer Funds Inc. effective Jan. 1, 2009. He will replace John V. Murphy, currently chairman and CEO. Murphy will remain with the company and continue to serve as President and a director/trustee of each of the Oppenheimer funds until his retirement at year-end 2009. Glavin has served as Co-CEO of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (Mass Mutual), of which Oppenheimer Funds, Inc is a subsidiary, and Executive Vice- President and head of Mass Mutual’s U.S. Insurance Group.

THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND

Jaime Caruana, currently Financial Counsellor and Director of the International Monetary Fund’s Monetary and Capital Markets Department (MCM), will leave the Fund in April 2009 to become General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). Pending his departure, Mr. Caruana will continue to serve as Financial Counsellor, leading the Fund’s work on key financial sector issues, including the Global Financial Stability Report. No replacement has been named. Prior to assuming his post as Director of the MCM, Caruana was Governor of Banco de España, Spain’s central bank. In addition to serving on the Governing Council of the European Central Bank, he was also the Chairman of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and, in that capacity, a member of the Financial Stability Forum.

WAL-MART STORES, INC.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc announced that Lee Scott will retire as the company’s chief executive early in 2009 and will be succeeded by Mike Duke, who currently heads Wal-Mart’s international operations. The company also promoted Eduardo Castro-Wright to company vice chairman, effective immediately. He is currently head of U.S. operations.

HSBC HOLDINGS PLC 

The parent company of the HSBC Group named Rachel Lomax and John Thornton as directors effective Dec. 1. They will both be independent non-executive directors.Thornton, who was a non-executive director of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd earlier, has also been appointed a director and non-executive chairman of HSBC North America Holdings Inc with effect from Dec. 1. Lomax was deputy governor, Monetary Stability, at the Bank of England and a member of the Monetary Policy Committee earlier.

ABSA GROUP LTD

South Africa’s biggest retail bank appointed Maria Ramos as group chief executive effective March 1. Ramos is currently chief executive of South Africa’s state-owned rail and logistics group Transnet

It’s a sad day in global finance when Deutsche Bank is poised to slash about 900 jobs and no one seems the least bit surprised. Granted, there’s stiff competition in the “shocking cutbacks” department these days. In the UK, the Lloyds/HBOS deal is inching ahead, and some expect a massive 40,000 jobs to be lost in the process.

But not everyone is on a firing spree. In fact, UBS — among those hit the hardest by the global credit meltdown — says it’s adding six senior executives to its wealth management division in Asia. True, six new jobs hardly seems like cause for celebration, but it signals an increasingly foreign concept of growth and expansion in time when contraction and cutbacks reign.

Meanwhile, State Bank of India is about to go on a hiring spree to the tune of 25,000 new jobs.  The bank is cashing in on the misfortune of its competitor ICICI, which suffered a major blow when jittery depositers yanked their money from the bank in favor or safer, state-run institutions.  Now State Bank stands to gain a huge slice of market share and plans to open a whopping 2,000 new branches in the coming year to keep up with its expanding customer base.

Does the latest hiring news offer a glimmer of hope? Share your thoughts below.

The following financial services industry appointments were announced on November 3, linked where possible to personal profiles on LinkedIn. To inform us of other job changes, please email moves@thomsonreuters.com.

New York City Comptroller William Thompson has increased his forecast for the number of securities industry workers who could be laid off in the city to 35,000 from 25,000, but banks in Asia are still looking to bulk up. Top brass speaking at the Reuters Wealth Management Summit this week said their expansion plans for Asia are largely intact.

Joseph Poon, who heads the Private Wealth Asia division of Australia’s Macquarie Group, said its recently set-up Asian private banking unit will hire another 30-35 client advisers in the next three to five years.

Marcel Kreis, head of Asia-Pacific private banking for Credit Suisse, said the credit crisis has not derailed plans to expand its private bank in Asia, where it could boost its team by as much as 80 percent in three years.

UBS is adding staff at a slower rate but is ready to pounce on experienced talent. “Even if we wanted to hire a lot of people there are not that many good people in the market,” said Kathryn Shih, chief executive for UBS’s wealth management business in the Asia-Pacific. “Normally into the second year of the crisis you start getting good people.”

Picture: Marcel Kreis, Credit Suisse Managing Director and Head of Private Banking for Asia-Pacific, speaks during an interview at the Reuters Wealth Management Summit in Singapore October 13, 2008. REUTERS/Vivek Prakash

The following are job changes within the financial industry for Oct. 7, linked where possible to personal and company profiles on LinkedIn. To inform us of other job changes, please e-mail moves@thomsonreuters.com.

UBS INVESTMENT BANK
The Swiss investment bank said Janine McGrath Shelffo will join its Investment Banking Department (IBD) as a Managing Director in its Technology, Media and Telecommunications Banking group. Prior to this assignment, Shelffo was a managing director and senior coverage banker for the media sector at Lehman Brothers, where she worked since 2004.

PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS LLP
The New York based assurance, tax and advisory services firm said John McCaffrey has been appointed leader of the U.S. Transaction Services group, and Timothy Hartnett as U.S. Private Equity Leader. McCaffrey previously headed the firm’s U.S. Private Equity group and replaces Michael Burwell, who is now the U.S. firm’s chief financial officer.

RBC CAPITAL MARKETS
The Canadian bank’s investment banking arm named Peter Walraven as managing director of the firm’s U.S. Debt Capital Markets efforts for Infrastructure and Project Finance. He will be based in New York. Prior to this appointment, Walraven worked at JP Morgan, most recently as a managing director and a member of that firm’s global private placements group.

MERRILL LYNCH BANK (SUISSE)
The investment bank has appointed Mark Kahnau as the new office manager of its Global Wealth Management Zurich branch.

STANDARD LIFE INVESTMENTS
Standard Life Investments, the global fund manager appointed Will Pawson, investment director - Southern Europe. Pawson joins from Morley Fund Management, now part of Aviva Investors, and will be based in Edinburgh.

STANDARD CHARTERED BANK
The Asia-focused British bank named Christian Wait as global head of capital markets. Wait, who will be based in Singapore, joins from Lehman Brothers.

J O HAMBRO CAPITAL MANAGEMENT
The boutique investment firm appointed Gavin Rochussen as chief executive officer. Rochussen left Fleming Family & Partners in August this year after 5 years as CEO.

The New York Times’ Dealbook takes a look at some of Wall Street’s biggest movers and shakers as they have played musical chairs in the last few months:

MARK SHAFIR

Days after Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy, it emerged that Mr. Shafir, a global cohead of mergers and acquisitions, was leaving for Citigroup. Mr. Shafir stayed long enough to help sell Lehman’s United States capital-markets business to Barclays.

GEORGE H. YOUNG III

As head of Lehman’s communications banking group, Mr. Young, known as Woody, was that firm’s biggest rainmaker. After abruptly leaving Lehman in early 2007, he resurfaced last month at Merrill Lynch, just a week before Merrill agreed to be sold to Bank of America.

OLIVIER SARKOZY

A banker’s banker, Mr. Sarkozy, the halfbrother of the French president, brokered transactions as joint global head of UBS’s financial institutions group. In March, he became co-head of the global financial services group at Carlyle Group, the private equity giant.

PETER KRAUS

In his 22 years at Goldman Sachs, Mr. Kraus rose as high as co-head of its investment management division. But in May, he left to become head of strategy at Merrill Lynch, where another Goldman alum, John Thain, had recently taken the helm.

ERIN CALLAN

As chief financial officer at Lehman Brothers, she was one of Wall Street’s most powerful women. But she was demoted after her defense of the firm’s health failed to comfort skittish investors. In July, she jumped to Credit Suisse to run its global hedge fund business.

ALAN D. SCHWARTZ

Mr. Schwartz became chief executive at Bear Stearns a few months before its sale to JPMorgan Chase & Company. He decided in July to leave JPMorgan and has not announced his next move. He has reportedly talked to investment banks and private equity firms.

Photo: Children play musical chairs after taking part in a role play exercise during an induction course at Mexico City’s stock market July 15, 2005. Mexico City’s stock market holds an induction course for children who’s parents would like them to learn the basics of market capitalism during their summer holidays. REUTERS/Andrew Winning 

The following are job changes within the financial industry for September 23, linked where possible to profiles on LinkedIn. To inform us of other job changes, please e-mail moves@thomsonreuters.com.

UBS
The Swiss bank has hired former Bear Stearns executive Jeffrey Mayer as joint head of the fixed income, currencies and commodities business. Mayer will be based in New York and Stamford.

ORRICK, HERRINGTON & SUTCLIFFE
The law firm has hired Elisabeth Gaunt from Denton Wilde Sapte as a partner in its global finance practice in London.

GCA SAVVIAN GROUP
The Tokyo-based mergers and acquisition advisory firm hired Hirofumi Imaji as a partner at Mezzanine Corp, its LBO financing unit, effective Oct. 1. He was previously with Citigroup Inc .

NAVIGATORS GROUP INC
The insurance holding company hired Paul Hennessy as president of Navigators Holdings (UK) Ltd.

UCBH HOLDINGS INC
The bank holding company appointed Qingyuan Wan as a new member of the board. Wan served as director of the board office of China Minsheng Banking Corp Ltd since October 2007.

AMHERST SECURITIES GROUP
The privately held broker-dealer that specializes in residential mortgage-backed securities has hired six sales and trading staffers. The six all join from different firms, including Merrill Lynch & Co Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Countrywide Capital Markets.

CREDIT AGRICOLE ASSET MANAGEMENT
The asset management arm of Credit Agricole Group promoted Patrick de Fraguier to Head of Strategy, effective October 1.

GRANT THORNTON
The business and financial adviser appointed Sean Croston as its head of health care, effective immediately.

(Compiled by Amiteshwar Singh in Bangalore and Elinor Comlay in New York; Editing by Maureen Bavdek, Leslie Gevirtz)